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Journey from the Fall
ImaginAsian Entertainment


9.3

based on 10 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 6 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie

MPAA RATING: R for some violence

Starring Kieu Chinh, Long Nguyen, Diem Lien, Jayvee Mai The Hiep, Khanh Doan, Cat Ly, and Nguyen Thai Nguyen

Inspired by the true stories of Vietnamese refugees who fled their land after the fall of Saigon, and those who were forced to stay behind, Journey From The Fall follows one family’s struggle for freedom. (Imaginasian Pictures)

GENRE(S):	Drama
WRITTEN BY:	Ham Tran
DIRECTED BY:	Ham Tran
RELEASE DATE:	Theatrical: March 23, 2007
RUNNING TIME:	135 minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	USA
LANGUAGE(S):	Vietnamese / English

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

Los Angeles Times Kevin Thomas

An example of sophisticated, impassioned filmmaking involving mainly people who lived through the harrowing experiences so unsparingly depicted, Journey From the Fall powerfully illustrates the refugee/immigrant experience.

Boston Globe Janice Page

Even when its wires are showing, the movie's soul is always evident.

Film Threat Mark Bell

Journey from the Fall re-educates as well as entertains, but never takes the easy way out, nor does it preach. In the end, it's a snippet of one family forever altered, and despite all the political undertones, it's the human level on which the film succeeds most of all.

The Hollywood Reporter Michael Rechtshaffen

A movingly rendered, stirringly photographed first feature by Ham Tran.

Variety Russell Edwards

A post-Vietnam War boat people saga is launched to compelling effect in Journey From the Fall, a sleek U.S. production.

San Francisco Chronicle G. Allen Johnson

If there is a beef to be had, it is that Tran seems to have tried so hard to make a movie of importance that his characters often resemble archetypes as opposed to people; the game cast appears straitjacketed at times. Still, it's a story that needed to be told.

The New York Times Matt Zoller Seitz

The film depicts one family's endurance in sturdy, old-movie style, with sweeping camerawork, a monumental and occasionally intrusive orchestral score, gorgeous yet forbidding natural vistas and enough shocking tragedies, brazen escapes and crowd-pleasing acts of defiance to fuel several action-adventure pictures.

Austin Chronicle Marjorie Baumgarten

A popular Vietnamese fable that bookends this first-time filmmaker's movie may have the effect of distancing more Americans than it draws in, but once the film gets going there is no turning your back on it.

Village Voice Scott Foundas

Tran's reliance on declamatory political dialogue and movie-of-the-week inspirationalism feels decidedly old-fashioned and, finally, even phony.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer Bill White

The film may be like looking through a stranger's scrapbook. With sketchy and didactic scenes lacking narrative cohesion, it is a collection of often strong images that fail to come to life.

The average user rating for this movie is 9.3 (out of 10) based on 6 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Ken D. gave it a10:
This movie should be required watching by all residence of Berkley, California! This movie tells the true story of our desertion from Vietnam because of the liberal media agenda in the United States. Many of our soldiers died for a noble cause that the media has yet to address. I only wish all anti war liberals would watch this wonderful movie. It tells the true story the way it was. This can be sugar coated all you want, but the US had a noble mission that got lost in the US television, newspapers, and radios lop sided view of the war.

Hai T. gave it a9:
To tell the truth, Ham Tran's Journey of the Fall hasn't featured the utmost cruelty of the VC and Siamese pirates.

Vincent N. gave it an8:
The movie was moving. Both my wife and I and most of the audience cried throughout the movie. It brought back painful memories that we would rather forget; but on the other hand, it may serves us better to remember them. It's a little long. The story of the main character (Long) should end later rather than sooner. Instead, his story ends too soon, and the new story of his family in California seems like the start of a new movie. All in all, this is a very good movie and a part of American history.

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Journey from the Fall ImaginAsian Entertainment

Journey from the Fall
ImaginAsian Entertainment